The Great Outdoors
by AndAllThatMishigas
Summary: Pre-Series, the Bartlet family goes camping. Some of them cope better with nature than others. Jed, Abbey, Liz, Ellie, and Zoey.


Author's Note: I got the idea for this from a tumblr prompt of "Have you lost your damn mind!?" and "I found a waterfall." And this happened. It's short, but I liked it, so I thought I'd post it.

 **The Great Outdoors**

Abbey and Ellie trudged back to the campsite after their hike. "Remember, Ell, act like you're having fun. You know your dad wants us all to have a good time."

"Mom, you hate camping."

"Yes, I do. But this is what Liz wanted to do for her birthday, and Dad talked her into making it a family trip. And when the people you love want to do something that isn't your favorite, you suck it up and pretend like you're enjoying yourself. Because love is about sacrifice, sweet girl. Like the two days I gave up studying for my 3rd year med school finals for you."

The eleven year old grinned up at her mother. "That's because you were giving birth to me!"

Abbey leaned over and kissed her daughter's hair. "Ugh, you taste like dirt. You're washing your hair as soon as we get home."

Jed saw his wife and middle daughter come into view. "Hey there, you two! Zoey caught a fish!"

The five year old came running over to her mother holding a small trout on a fishing line. Abbey grabbed it out of her hand before the fish touched her. Three days without a shower made her a little sensitive to extra germs and smells. "That's great, baby girl! Good job!"

"Daddy and Lizzie are making a fire so we can cook it for dinner," Zoey explained.

Abbey looked over Zoey's head to Jed. "We're going to have your fish for dinner?"

Jed shrugged. "It was her idea."

Zoey took her fish back to Liz and followed her big sister's instructions very carefully. Ellie went into her tent to get her book to read for a while before they lost the sunlight. Jed stood up and dusted himself off and walked over to his wife.

"How was your hike?" he asked, leading her a little ways away from the clearing, within viewing distance of their girls but out of earshot. When they were safely behind a tree, he pulled her into his arms and laced his fingers at the small of her back.

Abbey happily wrapped her arms around his neck. "It was nice. Ellie needed to get away, I think. She's not really outdoors-y like Liz and Zoey."

"Yeah, she's like you that way."

"Hey, I'm plenty outdoors-y!" Abbey protested.

Jed laughed, "Oh come on, you hate this."

"Well, so do you.

He sighed. "Yeah. Sleeping on the ground is not something I ever want to do again. How did I let Liz talk me into this?"

Abbey shrugged. "She's got you wrapped around her finger. Though I am glad you got her to agree to the whole family coming. This is going to be one of the last birthdays we get to spend with her where it's just the five of us." Her gaze wandered to hide the sadness in her eyes. Their oldest daughter was seventeen. In another year, she'd be graduating high school and off to college. Abbey wasn't ready to let go just yet.

"Well it looks like our little one might end up a doctor like her mom. She caught that fish, named it Leonard, and said she hoped he would be delicious when we ate him later," Jed told her, distracting from the sadness.

Abbey started to laugh. "Did she really? She's a strange one, our little Zo. Oh and speaking of strange things, Ellie and I saw the weirdest things in these woods!"

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"We followed the river for a ways and found a family of deer getting a drink. And a little ways after, we saw a mother duck and her little ducklings. And I must say, I was impressed that she could manage five little ducks. I've got three girls and a Nobel Prize winner, and it's a struggle."

Jed chuckled and gave her a peck on her nose.

"Oh, and I found a waterfall!"

"You did?"

"Yep. A couple miles that way," she told him, pointing in the direction she and Ellie had gone exploring. "It's beautiful. Secluded and mysterious and quite romantic."

He pulled her closer and gave her a squeeze. "You know what might be fun?" he asked in a low voice, his hot breath on her neck

"What?" She shivered at his touch.

"Later, when the girls are all asleep, we could go find that waterfall and go skinny dipping and I'll make love to you in the moonlight."

"Are you out of your damn mind!? It's April in New Hampshire! It gets down to forty at night! We have thermal sleeping bags for a reason, Jed. And that water? I have no idea what the hell kind of parasites live in the river here. I'm certainly not getting in there naked to find out what kind of tapeworm or hypothermia we can contract!" she scolded.

Jed just laughed. "I was kidding. I would like to make love to you under a waterfall, but we'll save that for a tropical vacation. New Hampshire is not the place." He leaned in to kiss her briefly. Abbey just huffed at him and walked back to the campsite to check on their daughters. Jed followed her, still chuckling to himself.


End file.
